How can I view the differences between two DLLs?

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Is there a way to view the difference between two binary DLL files? I have PDBs for both.

Ideally I'd like to see:

What functions have been added
What functions have been removed
What functions have been modified (with a diff of the disassembly)
What other entries (static variables, resources, etc) have been added/removed/modified

Note: this is different from this question as I am dealing with native DLLs.

Reflector should still be able to compare native DLLs. Otherwise you could probably just look at the documentation for the different versions?

erikric 2009-08-13 08:00:45

Doesn't work for native DLLs. Simply gives an error about not finding the CLI header.

pauldoo 2009-08-13 20:09:07

+1 A:

If you want to compare executable files, you have a couple of alternatives:

Bindiff: it's a commercial extension for the commercial disassembler IDA Pro. It's a de-facto tool for reverse engineering. According to the vendor description, it allows you to:
- Identify identical and similar functions in different binaries
- Port function names, anterior and posterior comment lines, standard comments and local names from one disassembly to the other
- Detect & highlight changes between two variants of the same function

You still have a free alternative: PatchDiff. As Bindiff, it's also a plugin for IDA Pro. According to the developer, Patchdiff can perform the following tasks:
- Display the list of identical functions
- Display the list of matched functions
- Display the list of unmatched functions (with the CRC)
- Display a flow graph for identical and matched functions

Francisco 2009-08-13 08:07:21

IDA Pro + PatchDiff looks perfect.

pauldoo 2009-08-13 20:10:05

ansaurus